Story Published: Apr 25, 2008 at 6:29 PM PST
Story Updated: Nov 20, 2008 at 5:58 PM PST
He's not only the mayor of Pullman, a popular and distinguished WSU professor of communication and the Voice of the Cougs, he's also a community volunteer who's donated countless hours to serve on various boards and just generally help out the town he loves.
Last weekend, he was hospitalized with stroke-like symptoms. But on Friday Glenn Johnson was back on the job and as chipper as ever.
"Doing really well," Johnson said. "Most of the memory is returned. It's called transient global amnesia. Apparently it's very well documented, not only mine, but other places and other people that have this. It could be a spike in blood pressure. I know that one of the factors could be that I dove into ice cold water, but I didn't do that, so I know that didn't cause it. So, that's one we can eliminate right away."
Glenn Johnson is a remarkable person by any standards. His responsibilities are many, yet he's an incredibly personable and funny guy. On Friday he talked about what happened last Sunday afternoon.
"What happened is I told my wife, I said, "Geeze, Kath, I feel like I'm in a time warp. What day is this?'," said Johnson. "I didn't even remember my trip to Costco. I didn't remember what happened on Sunday. I didn't remember what happened on Saturday. I couldn't even remember what happened on Friday. The long term memory was never affected. It was just the short term memory."
Johnson's prognosis is good. He says his research has led to the discovery that cholesterol-lowering medications he takes may be a factor in what happened to him, something he plans on visiting with his doctor about at his next appointment.
Meanwhile he said, with a smile, that it could have been worse.
"I'm just glad it didn't happen during a city council meeting. That could have been the longest city council meeting in the history of Pullman. And, I never lost my sense of humor during the whole time."
Johnson's love for his broadcast students is well-known. And as his seniors finished up a big final project Friday, he said that the outpouring of support from them and everyone else has been overwhelming.
"I got emails and letters and phone calls, letters that went to the hospital, to City Hall, to WSU. It's just been incredible."
Johnson said he had a full schedule Friday, but planned to take it easy this weekend.
